Sunday, May 29, 2016

Daily Trumpeter: A psychosexual analysis of Trump the Dom

n. Short for "Dominant." The dominant person in a BDSM relationship or encounter.

It fits according to Trump's behavior patterns. He wars not just toward political opponents but also toward those who you would think The Dom-ald would treat as political friends. Here are snippets from Paul Waldman at the Washington Post/Plum Line.

... Trump has a clear need not just to beat other people, but to assert his status over them, even to humiliate them. It’s why all his insults to his opponents have that that macho psychosexual element to them — he has to make sure everyone knows that he’s richer, he’s stronger, his wife is younger and hotter, he’s got bigger hands. And when they submit, it isn’t over. They have to keep being reminded that he’s the alpha male and they aren’t. That’s why he mocks Chris Christie, whose abject submission to Trump has been so pathetic, and that’s why he insults Perry even as Perry is endorsing him.

Remarkably, Trump seems to think this is an admirable quality, that his never-ending desire for revenge on those he thinks have wronged him is something we should admire. And it might be tempting to see his willingness to go after fellow Republicans as laudable candor. He doesn’t engage in the rote back-and-forth cross-party sniping we’re so used to — he criticizes everybody! But the thing about criticizing people from the other party is that it has a purpose. It’s meant to persuade people that your side is right and their side is wrong. But what’s the purpose of criticizing your own allies? There is none. It’s just about lashing out, personal pique, indulging your hurt feelings.

It certainly could present a problem in the general election by alienating Republican voters; Trump has gone after some of the party’s most popular figures, including not just Martinez and Romney (who is still admired by most Republicans) but also the likes of Scott Walker and Nikki Haley, if they weren’t eager enough to praise him. Summing up his philosophy, he says, “They talk badly, I talk badly, that’s how it works.”

Just keep talking, Dom-ald.

More on management style

All the above is about Trump's treatment of people external to his operation - political friends as well as opponents. Here is more from this morning's Daily Star about Trump's treatment of insiders.

Trump’s penchant for encouraging rivalries is now roiling his presidential campaign just as he’s captured the GOP nomination, creating deep uncertainty among Republicans about his preparedness for a complex and costly general election campaign. ...

Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide who was fired last year, put it bluntly: “He loves playing people against each other.” Still, Nunberg said he appreciated the competitive environment, crediting it with keeping staffers creative and committed to the organization.

That kind of management has its downside.

Some current and former Trump advisers blamed him for withholding information about staff changes from his team, sometimes leaving them to learn about internal developments in the media. Some have taken to shopping negative stories about their rivals to the press in a bid to undercut each other in the eyes of the boss — even if the stories reflect poorly on Trump.

It looks to me like a divide-and-conquer approach to keeping himself on top. You know, as the Dom-ald.